Bottle-capping machine.



G. KIRKEGAARD.

BOTTLE GAPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 00121, 1908.

926,425. Patented June 29, 1909.

I THE NORRIS PETERS co.. WASHINGTON, n. c

ITED STATES PATENT OFFTC.

GEORG KIRKEGAARD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO IMPERIAL STOPPER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

BOTTLE-CAPPING MACHINE.

Application filed. October 1, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GnoRe KIRKEGAARD,

a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of New York, in the borough of Brooklyn and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle- Capping Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to bottle capping machines of the type having a cap applying head adapted to be depressed upon a bottle, the latter being supported by atable which resists the downward thrust of the cap applying operation. A certain predetermined resistance to pressure must be provided in all cases, but the varying heights of different bottles due to imperfect manufacture or otherwise should be compensated for, so that tall bottles will not be crushed and broken, while the shorter bottles will be certain to receive adequate pressure.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a form of table which shall afford an adequate resistance against depression, so that the cap will be properly applied, but which automatically yields or compensates its position to bottles of difl'ering sizes.

A further object of the invention is to provide a magnetic system for securing the force of reaction in the table and which furnishes a resistance free from the effects of inertia, so as to present a force of definite magnitude regardless of the suddenness of impulse of the cap applying head, and regardless of any varying dimensions in the bottle.

A third object of the present invention is to provide a system of electrical contacts in conjunction with the electro magnet, to cause the latter to present asubstantially uniform resistance against depression of the table regardless of the position to which the table is moved, depending on the height of the bottle.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of the features of construction and combination as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the drawings: Figure l is a side elevation, partly in section, showing a cap applying machine embodying the principles of my invention. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing a slightly modified form of the invention.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 29, 1909.

Serial No. 455,774.

1 designates the cap applying head, which is guided and controlled by mechanism (not shown) to have a vertical movement through a predetermined range.

2 designates a table on which the bottle to be capped is received and which is dopressible with a predetermined force of resistance of reaction so as to compensate for the varying sizes of the bottles and also slight inequalities in the caps.

In practice, the depression of the cap applying head is made greater than is necessary for any ordinary bottle, in order to insure that an adequate depression is afforded for the smallest sizes. Under these circumstances the table 2 always yields more or less in every capping operation, and it should yield without increasing its resistance against depression, even for the largest and tallest bottles.

The table 2 is made with a depending circumferential flange 3, which loosely surrounds and telescopes upon the tubular extremity 4 of the casing 5, forming part of the 1 frame of the machine.

6 designates a magnet coil or solenoid contained within the casing 5, and adapted to attract upward an iron core 7 vertically movable therein. The core 7 is connected with the table 2 by a stem 8, made of brass or non magnetic material, and a spring 9 is provided within the tube 4 and surrounding the stem 8 to maintain the table normally elevated to its upper limit of movement. This limit of movement of the table may be fixedv by any suitable stop, such as a collar 10 surrounding and fixed to the core 7 so as to abut against the lower side of the electro magnet coil.

11 denotes a spring plate or brush fixed to the core 7, and adapted to engage a plurality of contacts 12 mounted in a vertical series on an insulated block 13. The block 13 may be supported in any suitable way from the casing 5, conveniently in the wall of a cup shaped chamber 14 directly beneath the electro magnet, and adapted to receive the core 7 in its downward movement.

The electrical circuits of the solenoid are made from any suitable current source 16 by connections established through the contacts 12 and the brush 11. The magnet 6 is seetionally wound, the different sections being, however, serially connected together, and forming in effect one continuous winding 'not'waste current'when not :in'use.

of the core is substantiallyunchanged.

with tapped off leads or connections 17, 17 and 17 The current source 16 is connected tothe other end of the magnet winding. by wire 18 at one terminal, and has its other ter minal joined to thebrush 11 by the wire 19.

The use in operation is as follows iThema chine being started in operation, the cap appl ing head 1 normally reciprocates=venti ca 1y through a fixed range of movement. Bottles 20 are placed on the table 2 in the path of the cap. applying head, which descends: and applies the cap in amanner formingno part of the presentinvention. Any suitable 'mat 21, of'rubber' or similar substance, is interposed between the bottle and the table 2, so ,as to compensate for any-minor irregularitiesin the bottom surface nofthe bottle.

TIn the normal'conditionof the apparatus, the circuitof themagnetfi is not completed, owing to the fact that brushl'll 'is not-depressed into engagement with any of the contacts '12. The device, therefore,-does As soon, however, as the bottle has been partly depressed by the engagement of ,thecapapplying head, the-brush 11 engages the-initia-lcontact of the series'12 and completes. the'circuit through the entire magnet "winding. The upward attraction of themagnet on its core 7, caused by this energizationcan be madea force of anypredetermined value exactly according to the needs of the cap ap-- plying-operation. Thevalue-of this force is substan-tially'in' dependentofany slight variation in the de ression-of the-core due to bottles of-slight y varyingheights. "In the case ofa-depression of-"more than a certain amount, however, an-exces'sive force might be presented, and the series of contacts 12 and the sectional-=windings of the magnet are provided to prevent this. -When the'depression of. the table '2, due to a particularly 011g bottle, exceeds a certain amount," the brush 11-will engage" thesecond'contact 12, by which the lower section-ofthe magnet winding is cut out. =The' diminished magnetism acts more fliciently than before to attract the core-upward,- and the number of turns in the magnet sections are so regulated that the resistance against depression In like manner, for extremely long bottles,- the brush 11 engages the' lowermost' contact 12,

so that only the upper sectionof the electro magnet remains-in circiiit. -By reasoning similar to thatalready considered, it-will be seen that the resistance'against depression or the core under these'circumstances can still be made unchanged. -Any number of contacts may the provided extending to any required degreesof depression of the-core6, or the sectional windings of the magnet may bemade so numerous and so individually ,and the core 7 of the magnet against gravity,

and is made of a strength and proportions deslgned to compensate for and counterbalance the weight of the parts mentioned without having anyother appreciable effect in the'action.

- In'FigLZ Ihave illustrated a slightly modifled-construction by whicha perfectly uni form resistance against depression of the table-may be magnetically obtained. In this case the magnet winding is not sectional,

same manner as in the preferred form'of the invention, and are denominated by the same reference characters. In place of the brush 11,- there is, however, provided a pivot connec-tion 25 for an arm 26, fulcrumed'at 27.

The connection-of the pivot 25 with thecore 7 may be made through any flexible link 28, so as to accommodate the angular movement of the'pivot point. The-lever 26 has a long metallic arm26 moving over a resistance elementi29 of any suitable or desired material having a a proper resistance coeflicient.

lThe-metallic arm 26 is made one terminal of a flow through theci-rcuit when the table is very slightly depressed in the capping'opera- 'tion. As the table is still further depressed, the arm-'26 swings upward along the resistance element 29, cutting resistance into the circuitand diminishing the current flow to compensate-for the increased efficiency of the magnetic attraction. The resistance element 29 may be of'varying cross-section and empirically designed to give an absolutely uniform reaction against depression of the table 2, regardless of the extent of suchdepression.

What' I claim is:

1: 'In a bottle capping machine, a cap applying head, a .table to support a bottle, and means for magnetically opposing the depres- 5 minute as topresentsubstantially-an un-l sion of the table.

2. In a bottle cap ing machine, a cap a plying head, a tab e to support a bott e, means for magnetically resisting the depression of the table, and means acting thereon to maintain said resistance substantially uniform regardless of the extent of the depression.

3. In a bottle capping machine, a cap applying head, a table to support a bottle, a solenoid magnet, and means cooperating therewith to cause a ma netic resistance to the depression of the tab 6.

4. In a bottle capping machine, a cap ap plying head, a table to support a bottle, a

solenoid magnet, and means cooperating therewith to cause a substantially uniform magnetic resistance to the depression of the table.

5. In a bottle capping machine, a cap applying head, a table to support a bottle, a

sectionally wound magnet, and means 00- operating with said magnet to cause a substantially uniform magnetic resistance to the depression of the table.

6. In a bottle capping machine, a cap applying head, a tab 0 to support a bottle, a sectionally wound solenoid, a core depressible in said solenoid and connected to said table, a plurality of contacts connected to the sections of said solenoid winding, and

means moved by said core and engaging said contacts to cut out sections 01' said winding successively as the table is depressed.

In witness whereof, I subscribe my signa ture, in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORG KIRKEGAARD.

WVitnesses: V

WALno M. CHAPIN, JAMES DAN'romo. 

